Haunting My Thoughts
by mikamisako23
Summary: He calls her Inspector, not Akane. [Takes place in the Psycho-Pass Movie, no 'real' spoliers]. (ShinKane)


**So hey! This is kind of a missing moment thing from the Psycho-Pass movie. There's not really many spoilers in this - all it does it intersect with the line of the movie, and I don't think reading this would ruin the movie, but you know: it's nice to warn any possible spoliers.**

 **It's meant to be read as ShinKane, although nothing actually happens between them.**

 **If you want to review, please do!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Psycho-Pass. *sob***

* * *

He calls her Inspector, not Akane.

She remembers that the last time they parted, she was Akane to him. Those three syllables slipped from his tongue with ease, but now, she's back to 'Inspector'.

"Don't call me that." She mutters, wishing that she could correct him. But for all her confidence, she can't correct the man that she still thinks about daily.

"So, _Spinel_?" He comments on the cigarette she offered him. Akane grimaces, resting her arms over her stomach as she gazes out of the window. The outside world here is so different from Japan; it's unfamiliar and alien, to her.

"I didn't think you smoked, Inspector." He continues.

"I… I don't. Not really." Akane admits. Kogami glances at her, driving with ease over the rough terrain.

"So… what's with the cigarettes?" He is forced to ask her when Akane doesn't elaborate.

"It's stupid." Akane sighs. "But… I light them to help me."

"Help you?"

"The scent… it helps me bring you to mind. So I can think like you did." Akane finally admits. Kogami is silent, and Akane wonders if he's freaked out by her confession. She knows it's weird, considering that their relationship wasn't that close when he left. Her confession sounds like one of a lovers, when she was never close to being that to Kogami. For her, it's like she will live in his shadow forever. Tsunemori Akane will never truly be free of Kogami Shinya.

"Be careful, Inspector. If you try to think like me, you'll be drawn into the darkness." Kogami responds finally.

"I'm aware of those risks, Kogami-san." She says drily. "I've been lectured already, don't worry."

"So, how have you been, Inspector?" Kogami chances a glance at Akane.

"Me?" Akane pauses. How does she start to describe everything that's befallen her? Her knowledge of the Sybil System weighs heavily on her mind, and Togane's betrayal makes her shudder.

"Not much." She settles on, not wanting to worry the man with all of those unpleasant details. "You?"

"I've been around." Kogami is elusive. So, nothing's changed there. That, at least, makes Akane happy.

* * *

After Kogami leaves her alone in his tent, Akane sighs, staring at her glass. She had hoped to run into Kogami, but now she's here, she doesn't know what to do really. Kogami won't return to Japan easily, and Akane doesn't know if she _can_ bring him back. She sighs again, lighting one of her – his – cigarettes. As usual, she holds it between her fingers, letting the familiar scent drift over her. She closes her eyes, allowing the scent to relax her.

There is definitely something at play here. That man – Nicholas Wong – is not right. All her senses scream that he's _wrong_ : Masaoka, if he was here, would call it a detective's intuition.

She shakes her head. There is no point in dwelling on that fact right now. She instead busies herself by glancing around the tent.

After Kogami left Japan, she and Ginoza went to clear of Kogami's quarters. She took all of his research on Makishima, and the photo of him and Sasayama. Those quarters were neat, and so are these improvised quarters. It seems that Kogami still is a man of few possessions.

She pours herself more drink, and sips at the liquid slowly. Her thoughts wonder: in these years apart, how has Kogami fared? Has he moved on from his life in Japan? She wishes that she could say that she had, but she can't, especially not with his favourite brand of cigarettes in her hand.

She lights another one when the first runs out, and midway through her third one, Kogami returns to the tent.

"Kogami-san!" She's startled, and nearly drops the cigarette.

"So is this what you do, Inspector?" He smirks.

"What?" Akane defends herself, putting out the cigarette. "Maybe I just enjoy the scent."

"Heh." Kogami takes his seat again. "So tell me. How are the others doing?"

"Well, Gino's an Enforcer, like I told you." Akane tells him. "And Yayoi… she didn't do so well after Kagari 'disappeared'. She's a little quieter now, quieter than she used to be. Shion is still Shion: an incorrigible flirt."

"I suppose you have replacements for me and Kagari?" Kogami's eyes rest on her for a moment before he holds out a hand for a cigarette, which Akane surrenders up without a fight. She doesn't answer his question until he's lit the cigarette and taken a puff off of it.

"There was a man for a while. Sakuya Togane." She speaks softly, the words tripping off of her tongue easily. "He… He wasn't good. He replaced you, you see, and he wanted to 'paint me black'."

"He wanted to darken your hue?" Kogami's eyes flash. Akane nods.

"He tricked me into relying on him, by behaving like you." She confides in him. She realises with a pang that she's missed this: talking to Kogami and actually knowing it's _him_ responding. For the last years, it's just been her imagination speaking on his behalf. But this here is _real_. He's flesh and blood, and she could touch him if she wished.

"Ah." Kogami takes another drag on his cigarette. "He didn't succeed, though, Inspector."

"No." She agrees. "He didn't." He still calls her Inspector, and Akane still doesn't have the courage to correct him.

"My new junior's a piece of work." Akane tries to change subject. "Shimotski Mika."

"How so?" Kogami's eyes look interested.

"She doesn't seem to like me much. She believes that I'm acting all wrong in my duty." Akane explains. "I don't think it'll be a problem, but it's exhausting having to work against that all the time."

"Reminds me of someone I know." A faint smile tugs on Kogami's lips. Akane shakes her head.

"Shimotski is nothing like me." She says firmly. She would never torture a man with a memory scoop, whereas Shimotski did it without a second thought.

"It's been a long time, Inspector." Kogami says quietly. "I used to imagine your voice for a while."

Akane glances up.

"You haunted me."

"So I don't anymore?" She catches his use of the past tense. Kogami's eyes flicker up to hers.

"Do you believe me to be a liar, Inspector?" He asks her.

"… I don't believe you lie, Kogami-san, but I think that sometimes you bend the truth." She answers honestly.

"So if I was to tell you that I don't imagine your presence every time I do something stupid, would you believe me?" His blue eyes hover on hers again.

"…" Akane hesitates. "I don't know." Kogami is no longer the man she once knew.

"Good answer, Inspector." He smirks again. "You should rest; we'll be leaving at dawn." He switches track abruptly.

* * *

He forces her to use the bed, even though it's his, and he'll be sleeping uncomfortably. But as Akane lies there, she finds herself unable to sleep, and so she climbs to her feet, padding away, knowing that her footsteps will awake him. He follows soon after, joining her as she stares out across this city of rebels.

"You still call me Inspector." She finally confronts him.

"…?" She senses the question in Kogami's silence.

"We're no longer Inspector and Enforcer. So why don't you call me Akane?" She turns to face him.

"Because we are still not equal, Inspector." Kogami says simply. "And you haven't told me to."

"I thought it was implied." Akane glances down.

"You don't call me Shinya, Inspector." He points out. Akane blinks.

"There's never been a moment for me to." She's tried out saying the name once before, when he left. She stood in his quarters and she asked the room a simple question.

 _Why did it turn out this way, Shinya?_

She's hesitated over his name, and it had sounded foreign in her mouth. After that, she'd never spoke Kogami's given name again. It was wrong, especially without his permission.

* * *

After she returns to Japan, Akane sits in her apartment alone, and she sighs.

He never called her anything but Inspector.


End file.
